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Gallup: Here Are the Most ‘Conservative’ & ‘Liberal’ States

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Alabama is the most “conservative” state in the U.S., with roughly 50 percent of its residents “identifying their ideology as conservative,” trailed closely by North Dakota and Wyoming (both 48.6 percent), according to a recent survey by Gallup.

Courtesy Gallup

Meanwhile, in the nation’s capital, it’s the exact opposite.

About forty percent of Washington, D.C., identifies as “liberal,” which puts the District about ten points ahead of Massachusetts (30.5), the nation’s second-most liberal state, and Oregon (29.3).

“Alaska came in as the state with the most moderates in the country, with 42.7 percent of its residents clocking in as moderate, according to the survey,” POLITICO notes. “Alaska was followed by Rhode Island, with 41.5 percent, and Ohio, 39.5 percent.”

And here’s something worth considering (via Gallup):

Overall, Americans in 2012 remained slightly more likely to identify as conservative (38%) than as moderate (36%) or as liberal (23%), a pattern that reflects the general consistency in ideological self-reports over recent years.

More broadly, the percentage of Americans identifying with each of these ideological labels has been remarkably consistent since Gallup tracking began in 2008. The range of each has varied by a maximum of only three points.

So what’s the bottom line?

“America has become a slightly more liberal and a slightly less conservative nation than it was in 2011 — based on residents’ self-reports of their ideology — but conservatives still outnumber both moderates and liberals,” the survey notes.

“The geographic dispersion of ideology across the states follows what are by now familiar lines of political demarcation. The most conservative states are in the South, Midwest, and Mountain West, while the most liberal are on the East or the West Coast,” it adds.